James Kirkpatrick Simpson who rescued many men using a donkey at Gallipoli.
News Guardian, 25th April, 2013.
Australian map reveals ‘Tynemouth born’ contingent in ANZAC forces
As
Commonwealth nations
prepare to mark their significant contribution to the war effort in
1914-18 the Tynemouth project is confident that the local population
in North Tyneside today will be enabled to understand the impact and
follow the tragedy that was the Great War including the stories of
local men living in the Dominions and across the British Empire at
that time, using our database which will be launched on the internet
next spring.
In
addition the project’s
work will assist families now living across the globe whose
forefathers left our community in the years before the Great War and
who ended up serving, and in some cases giving their lives in the
Dominion Forces, Their governments’ and peoples came immediately
and without question to the aid of the Home country as the war began.
In the
past 10 days, through our Twitter
site - @tynemouthWW1 - we have become aware of two mapping projects
similar to the very moving and telling imagery of our own casualty
map published a few months ago; copies of which are still available
from our Workroom, larger libraries and KeelRow Book Shop opposite
Christ Church.
Mapping
our ANZACS is
a site which shows the town of birth or enlistment of the more than
375,000 men and women resident in Australia who served in the war.
The site also identifies the town / country of origin of those not
born in the Australian commonwealth territories but who are among
the110000 who were born elsewhere (principally in the home countries
of the United Kingdom).
Last
week saw the most important anniversary in the folk memory of the
Australian nation. The 25th
of April is ANZAC day; a public holiday which commemorates those of
the Australian Imperial Forces who, with a contingent of New
Zealanders, made up a substantial part of the forces which took part
in the ill-fated Gallipoli operations launched on that day in 1915:
they had heavy losses in the course of that campaign and later in
their leading involvement on the Western Front from 1916 to the end
of the war.
Almost
70 men born in the former borough of Tynemouth are recorded as
enlisted in the Australian expeditionary forces (AIF) and we know
from our own roll of honour that 11 gave their lives in the conflict.
Now with the names of all of these men who enlisted in Australia we
will identify whether any more were in fact killed or died but were
not recorded in the Tynemouth Roll of Honour because information did
not reach their hometown before our Roll was printed in 1923.
And it
was Canadians who took the strategically vital Vimy Ridge
at the beginning of the battles around Arras in April, 1917. Six
months later and again they were the captors of Passendael
(Passchendale) Ridge at the bloody conclusion of that metaphor for
waste and struggle in inhuman conditions from August –November,
1917.
Another
very well presented map has been prepared in respect of the WW1
casualties of Toronto in Canada. Both maps and details of the
respective projects can found easily on the internet.
Anyone
with information on this week’s casualties or anyone killed or died
as a result of the war is asked to contact the project. The project
workroom at Room B9
Linskill Community centre, Trevor Terrace, North Shields is open from
1000 to 1600 each weekday for visitors and for anyone interested to
learn more about the project or how to get involved.
